Real estate in the Catskills symbolizes a traditional and slower way of life.
We recreate that romantic house on the hill with our new old designs. Fireplaces, wrap-around porches, wide plank floors and vintage fixtures are only the beginning of these Catskill real estate offerings.
Catskill Farms has saved more than a few families from the 'this old house fantasy'.
We build homes that work - from day 1.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Getting it all wrong.

I know, I've sworn I was going to take it easy and let a few things breeze past me instead of catching everything in my net, but then my friend David puts this house on this website as a 'good deal' and I couldn't help but look into it further since it was dabbling in our new old house style.

I'm not too concerned about competition these days since what I have learned is our competition always gets something really wrong (like the overall interior and exterior design and details) but it is always interesting to see who is nipping at our heels.

And ending the real estate listing with this doozy -

"...You are so smart- no "old house blues" for you!"

Seriously, telling someone they 're so smart in my experience means that you are telling them they are clueless, and I'm just always flabbergasted at the carelessness of the agents and brokers to approach a sale like this. I mean, if they are 'so smart' they don't need to be told that. And if they were so smart, they wouldn't be looking at this sorry excuse for a 'new old house'. I mean, I tried to find some redeeming characteristics that forced a 'nice try' out of me, or 'you almost got it right', or '"A' for effort' or 'nice college try'. But this house doesn't have any of those attributes. it's not really that nice of a try with a lacking kitchen, the 'til death do we part' Navajo white throughout, baseboard heat, the wrong color spindles and a terrible honey glaze floor.

That's without wondering where the dining/living room went, or how bad the bedrooms must be to not even be shown. 1x4 floors, tiny trim at the doors and floors, probably hollow core doors, Home Depot lighting, ranch trim, etc...

Look it, everyone is entitled to their own fallacies, fantasies and day dreams - but to get a house sold you got to understand what a buyer is seeing when they walk in the door of a house - old country charm is not what is apparent here, regardless how many times the agent says it. It's the lake rights across the street.

Hey, I don't mind if someone wants to insult the intelligence of their buyer - it only reinforces our efforts when potential clients stumble onto our website and/or offerings. I can't tell you how many times I have heard the big sigh of relief when clients realize we can actually make this new old house thing work for them.

Anyway, no offense intended - just refreshing to see other 'builders/designers' not getting any closer to hitting the right pitch than they were 5 years ago.